Opportunity
This I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream: -
There spread a cloud of dust along a plain;
And underneath the cloud, or in it, raged
A furious battle, and men yelled, and swords
Shocked upon swords and shields. A prince’s banner
Wavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by foes.
A craven hung along the battle’s edge,
And thought, “Had I a sword of keener steel -
That blue blade that the king’s son bears, - but this
Blunt thing!” he snapped and flung it from his hand,
And lowering crept away and left the field.
Then came the king’s son, wounded, sore bestead,
And weaponless, and saw the broken sword,
Hilt-buried in the dry and trodden sand,
And ran and snatched it, and with battle-shout
Lifted afresh he hewed his enemy down,
And saved a great cause that heroic day.
By Edward Rowland Sill
Edward Rowland Sill was born on 29 April 1841 in Windsor, Connecticut, United States of America. He graduated from Yale in 1861, studied biology at Harvard, did literary work in New York City, taught school in California and Ohio, and was for eight years professor of English language and literature at the University of California. His poems were privately printed under the title, “The Hermitage and Other Poems” (1868) and in other works. Edward Rowland Sill passed on at 45 years of age on 27 February 1887 in Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America.
This I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream: -
There spread a cloud of dust along a plain;
And underneath the cloud, or in it, raged
A furious battle, and men yelled, and swords
Shocked upon swords and shields. A prince’s banner
Wavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by foes.
A craven hung along the battle’s edge,
And thought, “Had I a sword of keener steel -
That blue blade that the king’s son bears, - but this
Blunt thing!” he snapped and flung it from his hand,
And lowering crept away and left the field.
Then came the king’s son, wounded, sore bestead,
And weaponless, and saw the broken sword,
Hilt-buried in the dry and trodden sand,
And ran and snatched it, and with battle-shout
Lifted afresh he hewed his enemy down,
And saved a great cause that heroic day.
By Edward Rowland Sill
Edward Rowland Sill was born on 29 April 1841 in Windsor, Connecticut, United States of America. He graduated from Yale in 1861, studied biology at Harvard, did literary work in New York City, taught school in California and Ohio, and was for eight years professor of English language and literature at the University of California. His poems were privately printed under the title, “The Hermitage and Other Poems” (1868) and in other works. Edward Rowland Sill passed on at 45 years of age on 27 February 1887 in Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America.